One possible deployment scenario for fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) system architecture uses high frequency (HF) (6 gigahertz (GHz) and above, such as millimeter wavelength (mmWave)) operating frequencies to exploit greater available bandwidth and less interference then what is available at the congested lower frequencies. However, pathloss is a significant issue. Beamforming may be used to overcome the high pathloss. Beamforming uses directional beams in transmission or receiving to increase signal gain, and therefore, compensate for pathloss.
Beam information, such as beam quality information (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), received signal strength, signal to noise ratio (SNR), signal plus interference to noise ratio (SINR), and so on), beam failure information, and so forth, is useful in beamformed communications. As an example, beam quality information may be used in beam selection or beam refinement, while beam failure information may be used in beam failure detection or recovery.
Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods for reporting beam information.